YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK

[Soldier4Christ]

DEMS THROW IN THE TOWEL ON OFFSHORE DRILLING


The Democrats apparently are abandoning their effort to renew the Congressional ban on drilling for oil on the outer continental shelf.

Is that good news? It's a stunning reversal from what was being reported just a day or two ago, and it can't be bad. But whether expiration of the ban will lead to more energy development any time soon remains to be seen. Maybe they're counting on their friends in the environmental lobby to stop drilling with litigation for a generation to come. But it can only be good that the Democrats are reading the polls and aren't prepared to face the voters as the party that is trying to drive energy costs higher.

UPDATE: House Republicans are trumpeting this as a great victory, as well they should. If they hadn't held their protest in the House chamber and otherwise promoted the energy issue, the Democrats would have gone through with their plan to extend the ban and keep gas prices as high as possible.

One thing I hadn't realized is that the ban applies not only to the OCS, but also to Rocky Mountain shale oil development. Shale oil has the potential to be even bigger than offshore drilling as as energy resource; America's shale oil resources dwarf Saudi Arabia's oil. But it will take longer to get shale oil flowing.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bill would boot U.N. from U.S.
Tancredo cites anti-American, anti-Jewish grandstanding

With the clock ticking on his final days in Congress, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a former presidential candidate, is introducing a flurry of controversial legislation – the latest, a bid to kick the United Nations out of the U.S.

"The U.N. has coddled brutal dictators, anti-Semites, state sponsors of terrorism, and nuclear proliferators – while excluding democratic countries from membership and turning a blind eye to humanitarian tragedies and gross violations of human rights around the globe," Tancredo said. "The U.N.'s continued presence in the United States is an embarrassment to our nation, and the time has come for this ineffective organization to pack its bags and hit the road."

This week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is back in New York to address the U.N. His speech has drawn thousands of protesters in New York City.

Tancredo's bill, dubbed the U.N. Eviction Act, would direct Attorney General Michael Mukasey to initiate condemnation proceedings against all United Nations properties within the United States, and sell the property to the highest bidder on the open market. The proceeds will be given to the Treasury Department to pay down the national debt. The bill would also bar the future purchase of property in the United States or U.S. territories by the U.N. or any of its agencies, and revokes the diplomatic privileges and immunities that U.N. officials and representatives currently enjoy.

"I refuse to sit idly by while Americans are forced to host Islamofascist dictators, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, so they can spew anti-American rhetoric just blocks from Ground Zero," Tancredo continued.

Tancredo said the U.N. is an organization known for its bureaucracy and has become a showcase for anti-American dictators like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and, of course, Ahmadinejad. He said it has also become little more than a rubber stamp for Chinese and Russian foreign policy initiatives – blocking membership by the democratic nation of Taiwan in the world body, and failing to take any meaningful steps to halt the ongoing genocide in Sudan or the illicit nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran.

"If the U.N. is so keen to accommodate the foreign policy demands of rogue nations and dictatorships, perhaps the world body might be more comfortable relocating to one," concluded Tancredo. "I'm sure Ban Ki-Moon will have no trouble securing a new location in downtown Pyongyang or Tehran."

Last week, Tancredo made news by introducing legislation to prevent Islamic law from gaining a foothold in the U.S. legal system, as it has in other countries.

HR 6975, the Jihad Prevention Act, would allow American authorities to prevent advocates of Islamic law, or Shariah, from entering the country, revoke the visa of any foreigners that champion it and revoke naturalization for citizens that seek to implement it in the U.S.

[HisDaughter]

Bill would boot U.N. from U.S.
Tancredo cites anti-American, anti-Jewish grandstanding

With the clock ticking on his final days in Congress, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a former presidential candidate, is introducing a flurry of controversial legislation – the latest, a bid to kick the United Nations out of the U.S.

"The U.N. has coddled brutal dictators, anti-Semites, state sponsors of terrorism, and nuclear proliferators – while excluding democratic countries from membership and turning a blind eye to humanitarian tragedies and gross violations of human rights around the globe," Tancredo said. "The U.N.'s continued presence in the United States is an embarrassment to our nation, and the time has come for this ineffective organization to pack its bags and hit the road."

This week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is back in New York to address the U.N. His speech has drawn thousands of protesters in New York City.

Tancredo's bill, dubbed the U.N. Eviction Act, would direct Attorney General Michael Mukasey to initiate condemnation proceedings against all United Nations properties within the United States, and sell the property to the highest bidder on the open market. The proceeds will be given to the Treasury Department to pay down the national debt. The bill would also bar the future purchase of property in the United States or U.S. territories by the U.N. or any of its agencies, and revokes the diplomatic privileges and immunities that U.N. officials and representatives currently enjoy.

"I refuse to sit idly by while Americans are forced to host Islamofascist dictators, like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, so they can spew anti-American rhetoric just blocks from Ground Zero," Tancredo continued.

Tancredo said the U.N. is an organization known for its bureaucracy and has become a showcase for anti-American dictators like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and, of course, Ahmadinejad. He said it has also become little more than a rubber stamp for Chinese and Russian foreign policy initiatives – blocking membership by the democratic nation of Taiwan in the world body, and failing to take any meaningful steps to halt the ongoing genocide in Sudan or the illicit nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran.

"If the U.N. is so keen to accommodate the foreign policy demands of rogue nations and dictatorships, perhaps the world body might be more comfortable relocating to one," concluded Tancredo. "I'm sure Ban Ki-Moon will have no trouble securing a new location in downtown Pyongyang or Tehran."

Last week, Tancredo made news by introducing legislation to prevent Islamic law from gaining a foothold in the U.S. legal system, as it has in other countries.

HR 6975, the Jihad Prevention Act, would allow American authorities to prevent advocates of Islamic law, or Shariah, from entering the country, revoke the visa of any foreigners that champion it and revoke naturalization for citizens that seek to implement it in the U.S.

WOW!  Now THAT is NEWS!  WOW!  And hip hip hooray!  That's what I'm talking about!  We need to write, email our officials in the backing of this guy!  I've written my senators, congressmen, and Pelosi before and I will certainly do it again on this!  WOW!
Lets not miss how this pertains to end times either.  The moving of the U.N.  This brings us even closer I think, as we indeed get closer each day.  Getting closer is good news to me!

[Soldier4Christ]

and it is indeed getting closer.

[HisDaughter]

I got this in an email today so I'm leaving it as is.  Feel free to copy and paste and send it on!


The Colonel and Lincoln…….POWERFUL 
   
 TAKE A FEW MOMENTS AND READ THIS LETTER. THESE ARE STRONG,
 POWERFUL AND COURAGEOUS WORDS COMING FROM A RETIRED COLONEL, AND READ
 WHAT LINCOLN HAD TO SAY AT THE END. WOW!
 
 33 Senators Voted Against English as America's Official Language on June 6,
 2007.
 
 On Wed. 6 June 2007, Colonel Harry Riley, USA, Ret. wrote:
 
 Senators: Your vote against an amendment to the immigration Bill 1348.... to
 make English America's official language is astounding.
 
 On D-Day, no less, when we honor those that sacrificed in order to secure
 the bedrock, character and principles of America, I can only surmise your
 vote reflects a loyalty to illegal aliens. 
 
 I don't much care where you come from. What your
 religion is. Whether you're black, white, or some other color...male or
 female......Democrat, Republican or Independent.....
But I do care when you are a United States Senator representing Citizens of America ...and Vote against English as the official language of the United States .
 
 Your vote reflects Betrayal. Political Surrender. Violates Your Pledge of
 Allegiance.  Dishonors historical principle. Rejects Patriotism. Borders on
 traitorous action and, in my opinion, makes you unfit to serve as a United
 States Senator ... impeachment ... Recall ...Or other appropriate action is
 warranted, or worse. 
 
 Four of you voting against English as America's Official Language were
 Presidential Candidates: Senator Biden, Senator Clinton, Senator Dodd and
 Senator Obama.
 
 Four Senators vying to lead America, but won't, or don't, have the courage
 to cast a vote in favor of English as America's Official Language when 91%
 of American Citizens want English officially designated as our language.
 
 This is the second time in the last several months this list of Senators
 have disgraced themselves as 'political Hacks'..... Unworthy as Senators and
 certainly unqualified to serve as President of the United States .
 
 If America is as angry as I am, you will realize a backlash
 so stunning it will literally 'rock you out of your socks'... And
 preferably totally out of the United States Senate. 
 
 The entire immigration bill is a farce.... Your action only confirms this
 really isn't about America... it is about self-serving politics......
despicable at best. It has been said: 'Never Argue with an Idiot....They'll drag you down to their level!' 
   
 PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID:
 'Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damages morale
 and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, quickly
 tried and hanged!!!'
 
 PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING AROUND THE UNITED STATES UNTIL THE
 ELECTION IN NOVEMBER...

[Soldier4Christ]

President would review 'hate crimes' plan
Reports say legislation expected to be resurrected

The White House would have to review any "hate crimes" plan that would arrive on the president's desk from Congress, a spokeswoman said today.

WND earlier reported on the expectation the plan, which was defeated a year ago when President Bush indicated it was not needed and he would veto it, would be returned to the agenda.

"Here's ultimately what we expect," Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, told WND at the time. "The hate crimes plan is to be offered as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2009 Department of Defense reauthorization bill. That's what the word is, that it's going to be offered as an amendment."

Pro-homosexual advocates long have sought such a law, but opponents fear it would be used to crack down on those who maintain a biblical perspective that condemns homosexuality as sin. Observers note it would criminalize speech and thought, since other criminal actions already are addressed with current statutes.

Canada already has an aggressive "hate crimes" law, and there authorities have gone so far as to tell a Christian pastor he must recant his faith because of the legislation that bans statements that can be "perceived" as condemning another person.

Some states already have similar statutes, too, and in New Mexico, a photography company run by two Christians was fined $6,600 by the state for declining to provide services to a lesbian couple setting up a lookalike "marriage" ceremony. Also, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter earlier this year signed a bill into law that opponents describe as draconian, with one analyst expressing the opinion that it actually could be read as outlawing publication of the Bible in the state because of its injunctions against homosexuality.

That, of course, was just before the Wall Street scandal broke and grabbed the attention of Congress. Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, raised the issue at today's briefing.

"This May 3, 2007, executive order of the president statement says, 'H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was unnecessary and constitutionally questionable.' And my question, if the provisions of this bill are revived and passed by Congress, will the president veto it?" he asked.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino promised a review.

"I think I'd have to take a look. I'm not familiar with that legislation," she said.

In the earlier discussion, Bush went on record specifically noting the "hate crimes" legislation would create special privileges for those who identify themselves with an alternative sexual lifestyle.

Staver said since criminal acts already are addressed with existing law, the only impact of "hate crimes" legislation would be to criminalize free speech and religious speech and a person's thoughts. For example, an assailant convicted of attacking a heterosexual might get six months in jail. Under a "hate crimes" plan, if the victim reported being homosexual, the sentence might be enhanced significantly, analysts said.

According to Rev. Ted Pike, who also has battled "hate crimes" plans, Staver's concern "is justified."

Citing an Aug. 22 Washington Blade story,  Pike said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, a lead sponsor of the bill in the House, has called on the Senate to pass the measure this year as a freestanding bill.

"Frank, a homosexual, is as much a bellwether of pro-homosexual legislative trends in the House, as is Sen. Edward Kennedy in the Senate," Pike said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senate sends $634 billion spending bill to Bush to sign
Automakers gain $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans, drilling ban nixed

Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.

The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.

The measure is needed to keep the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. As a result, the legislation is one of the few bills this election year that simply must pass. Bush's signature would mean Congress could avoid a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

The Pentagon is in line for a record budget. In addition to $70 billion approved this summer for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department would receive $488 billion, a 6 percent increase. The spending bill also offers aid to victims of flooding in the Midwest and recent hurricanes across the Gulf Coast.

Such a huge bill usually would dominate the end-of-session agenda on Capitol Hill. But it went below the radar screen because attention focused on the congressional bailout of Wall Street.

The measure settles dozens of battles that have brewed for months between the Democrats who run Congress and the White House and its GOP allies.

The administration won approval of the defense budget. Democrats wrested concessions from the White House on $23 billion for disaster-ravaged states, a doubling of low-income heating subsidies, and smaller spending items such as $24 million more for food shipments to the elderly.

The loan package for automakers would reward them with $25 billion in below-market loans, costing taxpayers $7.5 billion to subsidize the retooling of plants and development of technologies to help U.S. carmakers to build cleaner, more fuel efficient cars. Companies would not have to begin repaying the loans for five years, drawing objections from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who predicted they would return for more help when the money is due.

Republicans made ending the coastal drilling ban a central campaign issue this summer as $4-plus per gallon gasoline stoked voter anger and turned public opinion in favor of more exploration.

The action does not mean drilling is imminent and still leaves the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits. But it could set the stage for the government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011.

Also in the bill is money to avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants and solve problems in the Women, Infants and Children program delivering healthy foods to the poor.

In addition to the Pentagon's budget, there is $40 billion for the Homeland Security Department and $73 billion for veterans' programs and military base construction projects. Combined with the Defense Department's spending, that amounts to about 60 percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.

Democrats came under criticism from the GOP for short-circuiting the normal process for a spending bill after it became clear that Republicans would force difficult votes on the drilling ban.

Democrats also wanted to avoid an election-year clash with Bush that would have played in his favor. They are willing to take their chances that Democrat Barack Obama will be elected president in November and permit increases for scores of programs squeezed by Bush each year.

Bush had threatened to veto bills that did not cut the number and cost of pet projects in half or cause agency operating budgets to exceed his request. Democrats ignored the edict as they drafted the plan and the White House has apparently backed down.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, discovered 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that cost a total of $4.9 billion. Critics of such "earmarks" promise to scrutinize them in coming weeks and months for links to lobbyists and campaign contributions.

[HisDaughter]

Okay.  Well Whatever.  But I don't really plan on being here in 2011.  At least I hope not.  I hate the game.  We'll sign and ok this if.......
Why not just do what is good and right and not what will benefit your hidden agendas?  The drilling isn't soon enough to suit me and as far as the car makers...I can't even afford a car.....so why do I have to pay to help them out?  Except I suppose it will give others jobs?  I'm not smart enough to see all the implications of this so maybe someone can enlighten me.

Gotta get to work so I'll see ya all later. 

[Soldier4Christ]

Members of Congress seek Planned Parenthood investigation
50 members ask Health and Human Services Secretary to look for fraud

More than 50 members of Congress have asked the Health and Human Services Secretary to conduct an audit of Planned Parenthood over allegations that the abortion provider has overbilled the federal government.

The request for the audit was initially made by a coalition of faith-based groups, including the American Family Association. Planned Parenthood receives federal funding through the Title X Family Planning Program, a 90-percent Medicaid match for family planning, and a federal program to purchase drugs from manufacturers at a reduced price.

Four years ago, state auditors in California began reviewing Planned Parenthood affiliates, but the audit was stopped after only one review was completed. That review found that Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside counties overbilled the government more than $5.2 million.
 
Ray Ruddy, president of Gerard Health Foundation, is leading the call for a federal investigation. He says, unlike other federal contractors, Planned Parenthood does not have to bill the government at cost, but is able to bill at what they call "normal and customary rates."
 
"Let's say, right now, everybody bills the federal government at their cost, plus eight percent. Most vendors, ...whether they're wholesalers or retailers, actually bill out and mark up their stuff anywhere between 50 and 100 percent," Ruddy explains. "If you take everybody who's billing the federal government and they start to mark up their stuff, their materials they provide, by 50-to-100 percent -- I have not even begun to make a calculation of that, but I bet that would be in the billions of dollars."
 
Ruddy also alleges that officials in California redefined the term "at cost" to validate what he says are fraudulent billing practices of Planned Parenthood. He believes Planned Parenthood could have fraudulently billed the federal government in excess of $180 million.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mexico funding U.S. Spanish classes for illegal aliens
Educators keep quiet, fear stoking 'anti-immigrant backlash'

For more than a decade, as the immigration debate has swelled on both sides of the border, the Mexican government has been quietly providing money, materials and even teachers to American schools, colleges and nonprofit organizations.

The programs aren't substitutes for U.S. curricula, but educators familiar with them say they provide a lifeline for adult students with little formal education by helping them become literate in Spanish — and by extension, English.

Yet many educators are wary of even talking about the programs, fearing they might stoke an anti-immigrant backlash.

The Mexican government, which spends more than $1 million annually on the programs, has many reasons to provide the aid to the immigrants and their children. The programs allow it to give back to the growing number of Mexicans living legally and illegally in the U.S. Behind oil, remittances from these individuals are the second-largest source of foreign income for the Mexican economy — almost $24 billion last year.

"We don't want the Mexicans in the exterior to feel like milk cows being expressed for the resources they were sending back," said Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, head of the Mexican government's Institute for Mexicans Abroad, which oversees most of the programs.

Mexicans abroad need an education to represent the country well, he said.

"The image and prestige of Mexico is inextricably linked to the image and prestige of these communities in the U.S.," Gonzalez said.

He also acknowledged that many of the adult participants are likely illegal immigrants, a group the U.S. government doesn't want to allow to stay, let alone have to support.

"Mexican involvement in American public education is another symptom of how things are different than the Ellis Island era," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to limit immigration. "With technology, distance doesn't really matter. You never really leave the old country behind."

Krikorian said the U.S. shouldn't rely on Mexico to help integrate immigrants.

"Both the public and a lot of lawmakers want immigration on the cheap," he said. "Contracting out to the Mexican government is a cop-out."

Such responses are exactly what educators fear might take the few educational opportunities away from people like Alfredo Ortiz, 43, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who came to the U.S. from the state of Chiapas with a third-grade education in 1992 and began picking cucumbers before becoming a landscaper. For years, he says, he didn't have time to study, but more than that, the thought of re-entering school terrified him.

Then he heard about a new program called "Plaza Comunitaria," or Community Plaza, at Chattanooga State Technical College, where he could study Mexican elementary and middle school subjects online, with assistance from volunteers who receive stipends from Mexico. That seemed less daunting than jumping directly into English, and he quickly enrolled.

Much to his surprise, he was soon confident enough to study an hour a night in Spanish and an hour a night in English, earning his middle school diploma from Mexico along the way.

"When I achieved understanding of the Spanish and how to conjugate those verbs, it was so much easier to understand how to conjugate in English," he said. "It also sets an example for my kids. They see I struggled, so they should reach even farther."

Plaza Comunitaria is the Mexican government's biggest educational export program. It began in 2002 in San Diego and now operates at 370 sites in 35 states from Oregon to Florida, providing $1 million in grants. But it's not the only one. Mexico also donates nearly 10,000 Spanish-language school books a year to U.S. academic institutions and community centers, sends more than 100 teachers to the U.S. to teach summer classes and has a pilot program with the University of Texas to help immigrant students receive U.S. credit for classes they took in Mexico, among other programs. Gonzalez said the costs of most of those programs were mostly in-kind and did not have the numbers.

Sonia Jaramillo, who has helped coordinate Plaza Comunitaria programs through California's Monterey County Office of Education, says experiences like Ortiz's are common. Many of her adult students come in for the Mexican classes because they feel more comfortable, but they quickly move on to English, or even courses in parenting and computers.

In western Oregon, the Estacada School District is using the online classes not just for adults but to help immigrant teens keep up with other subjects as they learn English.

"There's all this curriculum online. It's interactive, it's pretty cool, and it's free," said Joni Tabler, a former ESL teacher turned charter school principal. "A lot of their curriculum is a lot higher level than what we teach."

In St. Lucie County, along Florida's eastern coast, public school superintendent Michael Landon said the district was thrilled to receive crates of free textbooks from Mexico. They aren't part of the curriculum, but students can use them while they learn English or Spanish.

Across the state in Clearwater, near Tampa, the Mexican government has paid for several teachers to offer the young children of immigrants summer enrichment classes at a community center. On a hot summer day, the students skipped to the tune of traditional Mexican jigs before learning Spanish stories.

Juan Carlos Baldizar, 10, of Clearwater, was born in the U.S. but has shuttled between the two countries with his parents, both indigenous Mayans. He said the classes are cool because he learns "new stuff about Mexico," things his parents tried to tell him but he never really paid attention to, like the Mayan calendar.

Juan Carlos said being able to practice his written Spanish also helped him feel more comfortable at home and at school.

"If your mom was born in Mexico, and like the children are born in the United States, you have to learn two cultures," he said. "It's confusing sometimes."

The Mexican government is not the only foreign government to provide educational assistance in the U.S. France, for instance, has provided resources for years, and Japan offers books and other materials through the Japanese Foundation.

But neither country supplies anywhere near the number of immigrants Mexico sends to the U.S. each year, and their target populations tend to be more affluent and better educated, making them far less likely targets for anti-immigration sentiment.

In St. Lucie, angry e-mails and letters to the editor bombarded the school following reports of the donated Mexican texts after some local media mistakenly reported the books were replacing standard Florida texts. The controversy eventually died down.

Tabler faced a similar backlash in Oregon, at least at first.

"We don't want to get into political issues. We just want to educate kids," she said. "And if the curriculum from Mexico is a good tool for us to be successful, then we're going to use it."

[Soldier4Christ]

Schwarzenegger: Communism still bad idea
Vetoes plan that would have opened public schools to avowed party members

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided that communism still is a bad idea, and opening up public schools and other public facilities to avowed party members who may seek to overthrow the U.S. government is not a good idea.

"Many Californians have fled Communist regimes, immigrated to the United States and sought freedom in our nation because of the human rights abuses perpetuated in other parts of the world," the governor said in a message accompanying a veto of a plan lawmakers had approved.

"It is important particularly for those people that California maintains the protections of current law," he said. "Therefore, I see no compelling reason to change the law that maintains our responsibility to ensure that public resources are not used for purposes of overthrowing the U.S. or state government, or for communist activities."

The proposal, SB 1322, had been submitted by Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach.

"The Austrian upbringing of Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently taught him to dislike communism. If only he disliked the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda that is attacking moral values of people of conscience," said Randy Thomasson, of the Campaign for Children and Families, a group that is active in monitoring California's social agenda.

WND reported earlier when members of the California Legislature approved the plan.

The lawmakers wanted to give unfettered access to public schools and facilities to activist communists who seek the "elimination" of the system of capitalism and who blame problems ranging from "homophobia" to "sexism" on the freer market system.

The plan by Lowenthal was viewed with horror by Campaign for Children and Families as well as officials with the pro-family Capital Resource Institute.

"[Legislative] passage of SB 1322 comes just as three Americans were arrested and aggressively removed from Tiananmen Square by communist police for peacefully protesting their opposition to China's brutal violation of human rights," the family group CRI said in its statement at the time of the vote. "The peaceful activists capitalized on international media coverage of the Beijing Olympics to draw attention to China's human rights abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations, religious persecution of its citizens, and the denial of fundamental civil liberties."

Officials said the bill would "banish from current law the ability of schools to fire teachers for being communists. It will also allow communists to use public school property for their meetings."

Said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource. "Every parent should have the assurance that their child will not be exposed communist brainwashing in their classroom. In addition to approving such brainwashing, Democrat lawmakers also decided that children's safety is not as important as their radical political agenda. They rejected their chance to protect students from terrorists infiltrating their schools."

The lawmakers had, as part of their discussions, refused to endorse amendments that would crack down on terrorism.

According to current postings on the website for the Communist Party USA, racism, sexism and male supremacy, national chauvinism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-communism all can be blamed on capitalism.

"The problems of exploitation, oppression, and survival facing humankind can only be solved, ultimately, by the elimination of the exploitative system of capitalism," the organization states. "Our survival depends on a transformation to socialism. The U.S. working class, with a long revolutionary history and many powerful mass movements and organizations, has the potential to make this transition happen."

Capital Resource said promoters of the bill said communism is a "failed ideology" that no longer is a threat to the U.S.

"But simply visiting the Communist Party USA website shows that communists have no desire to support our government and still embrace radical beliefs," CRI said.

The Gun Owners of America said Democrats "who now want communists to start teaching your kids demonstrated amazing chutzpah."

"They praised Ronald Reagan for winning the Cold War and argued that 'it is now time to move on' and let these anti-freedom Marxists teach in our schools. Wow! Aren't these Democrats the same people who wanted to coddle the Soviets and who opposed Reagan's military build-up every step of the way? Now they are praising Reagan, but all in an effort to immobilize us," the group said in a statement.

"Never mind the fact that communism is still alive in countries like Cuba and China ... not to mention our own country. The Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA still calls for 'mass armed insurrections' which will lead to a civil war 'to finally and completely defeat the old ruling class," the GOA said.

Lowenthal represents the state's 27th District, including the towns of Artesia, Avalon, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Lakewood, Long Beach, Lynwood, Paramount, Signal Hill and South Gate.

[nChrist]

Schwarzenegger: Communism still bad idea
Vetoes plan that would have opened public schools to avowed party members

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided that communism still is a bad idea, and opening up public schools and other public facilities to avowed party members who may seek to overthrow the U.S. government is not a good idea.

"Many Californians have fled Communist regimes, immigrated to the United States and sought freedom in our nation because of the human rights abuses perpetuated in other parts of the world," the governor said in a message accompanying a veto of a plan lawmakers had approved.

"It is important particularly for those people that California maintains the protections of current law," he said. "Therefore, I see no compelling reason to change the law that maintains our responsibility to ensure that public resources are not used for purposes of overthrowing the U.S. or state government, or for communist activities."

The proposal, SB 1322, had been submitted by Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach.

"The Austrian upbringing of Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently taught him to dislike communism. If only he disliked the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda that is attacking moral values of people of conscience," said Randy Thomasson, of the Campaign for Children and Families, a group that is active in monitoring California's social agenda.

WND reported earlier when members of the California Legislature approved the plan.

The lawmakers wanted to give unfettered access to public schools and facilities to activist communists who seek the "elimination" of the system of capitalism and who blame problems ranging from "homophobia" to "sexism" on the freer market system.

The plan by Lowenthal was viewed with horror by Campaign for Children and Families as well as officials with the pro-family Capital Resource Institute.

"[Legislative] passage of SB 1322 comes just as three Americans were arrested and aggressively removed from Tiananmen Square by communist police for peacefully protesting their opposition to China's brutal violation of human rights," the family group CRI said in its statement at the time of the vote. "The peaceful activists capitalized on international media coverage of the Beijing Olympics to draw attention to China's human rights abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations, religious persecution of its citizens, and the denial of fundamental civil liberties."

Officials said the bill would "banish from current law the ability of schools to fire teachers for being communists. It will also allow communists to use public school property for their meetings."

Said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource. "Every parent should have the assurance that their child will not be exposed communist brainwashing in their classroom. In addition to approving such brainwashing, Democrat lawmakers also decided that children's safety is not as important as their radical political agenda. They rejected their chance to protect students from terrorists infiltrating their schools."

The lawmakers had, as part of their discussions, refused to endorse amendments that would crack down on terrorism.

According to current postings on the website for the Communist Party USA, racism, sexism and male supremacy, national chauvinism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, and anti-communism all can be blamed on capitalism.

"The problems of exploitation, oppression, and survival facing humankind can only be solved, ultimately, by the elimination of the exploitative system of capitalism," the organization states. "Our survival depends on a transformation to socialism. The U.S. working class, with a long revolutionary history and many powerful mass movements and organizations, has the potential to make this transition happen."

Capital Resource said promoters of the bill said communism is a "failed ideology" that no longer is a threat to the U.S.

"But simply visiting the Communist Party USA website shows that communists have no desire to support our government and still embrace radical beliefs," CRI said.

The Gun Owners of America said Democrats "who now want communists to start teaching your kids demonstrated amazing chutzpah."

"They praised Ronald Reagan for winning the Cold War and argued that 'it is now time to move on' and let these anti-freedom Marxists teach in our schools. Wow! Aren't these Democrats the same people who wanted to coddle the Soviets and who opposed Reagan's military build-up every step of the way? Now they are praising Reagan, but all in an effort to immobilize us," the group said in a statement.

"Never mind the fact that communism is still alive in countries like Cuba and China ... not to mention our own country. The Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA still calls for 'mass armed insurrections' which will lead to a civil war 'to finally and completely defeat the old ruling class," the GOA said.

Lowenthal represents the state's 27th District, including the towns of Artesia, Avalon, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Lakewood, Long Beach, Lynwood, Paramount, Signal Hill and South Gate.

WOW! - This is a perfect example of ABSOLUTE INSANITY. Average people with any common sense reading this article might think this is a joke, but it's not! The California Legislature actually passed this bill. I think that the people of California should secure and lock down their legislature immediately and make it a mental institution. Those folks are definitely a danger to themselves and others, so they should not be released from this facility. Maybe this could be seen as positive since they already have some of the worst NUTS in one place and they don't have to spend time hunting them down.

[Soldier4Christ]

They may not be isolated to just that one spot for long. As it has happened in the past what California does the rest of the nation soon follows.

[Soldier4Christ]

Green candidate claims government killed 5,000
McKinney: 'Data was entered into a Pentagon computer'

The former Democratic congresswoman from Georgia who now is the Green Party's candidate for president has claimed the government killed 5,000 prison inmates during Hurricane Katrina, dumping their bodies in a Louisiana swamp, according to a Fox News report.

Cynthia McKinney told a news conference in Oakland., Calif., Sunday that she heard the story from the mother of a National Guard soldier and that she checked it with "insiders" who want to remain anonymous.

"And these were mostly males and her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement," McKinney said, according to Fox. "So he only complained to his mother. But the data was entered into a Pentagon computer."

She alleged the government authorized the executions to be done with a bullet to the head.

"I suspect that these are prisoners. ... So this investigation of the whole prison industrial complex is extremely important and it should not end with just a question of the nature of prisons in our country. These 5,000 souls also need some justice too," Fox reported she said.

Lt. Col Les Melnyk, a spokesman for the Defense Department, called it "outrageous."

"The claim ... doesn't merit any further consideration," he told Fox. "It would be inconceivable that 5,000 people would go missing in America without anyone noticing it prior to this."

Psychologists and psychology professors contacted by Fox declined expressed shock at the assertion.

"Wow! What a conspiracy theory," one professor exclaimed, Fox said.

Those commenting on the Fox website forum were pretty much of an opinion:

    * "I am surprised she didn't claim it was 5,000 black men and a racist plot by Bush! Liberals eliminated all mental hospitals; now I know why! They would fill them all up!"

    * "I have never heard of her, this lady is a FRUIT LOOP."

    * "Life must be really scary on her planet."

    * "Obviously not the brightest crayola in the box. ... Cynthia...stick a fork in yourself dear....your DONE!"

Fox said McKinney's presidential campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

She was in Congress for 12 years until 2007. She has, in the past, suggested President Bush knew in advance about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but didn't warn Americans because of his father's business interests.

In 2006, she was accused of slugging a Capitol police officer when she went through a security checkpoint without a congressional lapel pin for identification.

[Soldier4Christ]

Just think ... we have people like this still in Congress. I can see why she is with the Green Party ... birds of a feather.